From the Mission Logs of Kimberly Ann Possible
by ZorpoxTheConqueror
Summary: Kim has helped out a lot of people over all her missions, but what's the story behind the people that give her rides? Finally updated with: Bernice.
1. Heinrich

_**From the Mission Logs of Kimberly Ann Possible**_

_**CHAPTER 1: Heinrich**_

**Heinrich: Okay, kids, we're here.**

**Kim: Thanks for the lift, Heinrich.**

**Heinrich: Oh, Kim, you silly. It's the least I could do after you saved our village from that avalanche last year.**

**Kim: No big...**

**Ron: So, Heinrich, got any teenage daughters who might want to go to a big American dance party?**

**Heinrich: Nein!**

**Ron: Nine! One's plenty. Well, maybe two.**

**Heinrich: Nein means 'no'!**

**Ron: Hey, wait a minute, I helped with that avalanche.**

**Kim: You started it!**

* * *

_Well, I feel a little silly writing this, but mom insists. She says that one day I'll look back in 'fond remembrance' of what I write here, but come on; that's what the diary's for. I didn't really want to put this in my diary, though, because that's for personal things, so I'm starting another journal for stuff like this, I mean, it kinda makes sense, but mom's just so frustrating sometimes. I guess I really don't mind, but now it feels like a homework assignment-especially since Mom wants to look this over when I'm done._

_Anyway, we, as in my family and Ron, happened to be on a short little vacation; Ron's parents were busy or they would have come. Ron and I were getting ready to hit the slopes when we heard a commotion down in the lobby of the hotel. We went to see what was going on, and this guy, Heinrich, was saying that they had to forbid people from skiing and snowboarding because the snow had gone soft, it was warmer than it usually was this time of year. He said that they were going to have ask everyone to cut their vacations short, because there was the possibility of an avalanche destroying the town._

_Ron was upset, and wanted to head back upstairs to repack, but I was really upset-I'd been looking forward to this for over a month since we planned the trip, I wouldn't leave without doing a little skiing. As I thought about it, I realized that there might still be some people on the slopes that needed to be told...besides, at worst I might get a chance to go down the mountain a couple of times..._

X X X X_  
_

Kim reached over and grabbed Ron's hand, pulling him along as she went over to the tall man standing in the hotel lobby. He turned, ready to head out, when the red-haired teen spoke. "Hello,

Mister Heinrich?" The man turned, and she introduced herself. "Hello, I'm Kim Possible, and I'd like to help."

"Help?" The big man looked down at her, then over at her faithful friend. "Help with what-the evacuation?"

She shook her head, then motioned out the window toward the slopes. "No, the search-there's got to be people out on the slopes already, and they need to be told that we are evacuating the town."

The adult frowned, then studied them closer. "Aren't you two a little young to be helping with something like this?"

Ron finally spoke up. "Why yes, yes we are." Kim elbowed him in the side, and he quickly amended his statement. "I mean, no, we're very mature for our age."

Heinrich eyed them both, then finally noticed two other adults walking over. Kim's father came up behind the two teens and put his hands on Ron's shoulders. "What's going on, Kimmie-cub?"

After his daughter's explanation, he was inclined to agree with the other man, this really wasn't work for some amateur teens to get involved in, however after a quick sidelong glance at his wife, he reconsidered. He could tell that the elder red-head had a different opinion-and besides, it wasn't that dangerous. They could always snowboard away from the snow fall easily enough, and it might save lives in the end.

He smiled as his eldest child. "Alright, Kimmie, if your mother agrees-but make sure you do whatever Mr Heinrich says-don't do anything to get hurt."

With her parents blessing, Heinrich really had no reason to forbid the teens to help, and in truth, he could use the extra help-all of his strongest and most able men were working on building a barricade to divert an avalanche if it did occur. Even with as many men as he had working, it would still take a couple of days before the wall was ready-he just hoped the snow would stay solid that long. In the mean time, everyone else needed to leave the small village.

He took the two teen with him to a small office that he had near the edge of town, and quickly outfitted them with the other gear that they would need-Kim and Ron already had just about everything they needed. While they had all the climbing and snowboarding supplies they would need, he gave them a set of walkie-talkies, as well as an extra flashlight and some food for the hike.

As soon as they were outfitted, the two teens set off; Kim exhilarated to be out on an adventure, Ron a little less at ease.

X X X X

"Ron, get up here." Fourteen year old Kim Possible yelled down to her best friend and sidekick. She was currently crouched in the top of a tree, using the extra height to look around. Her best friend was doing his best to make his way up to her, but he was having some difficulties-tree climbing just wasn't his thing.

"KP..." He panted, finally hooking a leg over the branch that she was sitting on. "It's a long ways up." She gave a frown at him. "Come on, we climb trees all the time, Ron..."

"Yeah, but we don't usually climb them with a backpack, too." He looked down and gulped. "Besides, I think these trees are a lot higher."

"Wimp." Kim said, playfully. Ron rolled his eyes, knowing that Kim was in one of her 'I can do anything' modes, they'd seemed to be getting more frequent of late. He decided not to comment, and instead leaned back in the hollow of the tree, while his red-headed friend looked around.

"Ron-look, there!"

She pointed, excitedly, and Ron had to squint to see what had caught her attention. A quick look and he finally realized it was one of the groups of hikers that they had been looking for. The blond teen frowned to himself, since that meant now he'd have to climb down out of the tree. His best friend chose another route, however.

Daredevil that she was, Kim took three steps out to the end of the branch, and launched herself out into the air. Ron's heart leapt into his throat at the dangerous move, but Kim knew what she was doing. The jump was distanced perfectly, and she got close enough to another tree to grab it with her gloved hands, using it as a sort of parallel beam. She was able to swing around the branch, then flip and grab a second. Finally, she spun and dismounted, throwing her hands in the air. Ron, after getting over his fright, clapped.

It took him almost two minutes, but he clambered down out of the tree himself, joining Kim near the bottom. She still looked breathless from her stunt, and she quickly tugged Ron off toward the hikers.

After a few seconds, he commented to her "That was really good-I still think that you should go out for gymnastics."

She looked slightly downcast. "Well, I would, but I'm just so busy-I want to work on the yearbook too, and it'd be nice to work on school dances and things-that all takes a lot of work." She frowned. "Just doing cheer leading is hard enough."

They caught up with hikers, and quickly explained that with the early thaw, the snow up in these mountains was becoming treacherous. The three adults nodded their thanks, disappointed. They turned around and headed back down the mountain, realizing that they would have to go hiking some other time.

As soon as the three had left eyesight, Kim and Ron continued their conversation.

"Come on, how hard can cheer leading be?" Ron asked. "I mean, all you do is bounce around and look perky."

Kim took offense at that. "I am not perky. I prefer...upbeat. And Ron, there's more to cheer leading that what you see-we have to plan things out, choreograph everything, it takes a lot of work."

"Pah-shaw" Ron blew it off. "Maybe a lot of work for normal people, but not for you." He smirked. "You can do anything."

She was about to comment, but Ron lost his footing on the steep grade, and snagged Kim's arm as he fell. She tried to stay upright, but Ron's greater weight prevented it-they both went tumbling down the hill.

Kim tried to slow her descent by spreading herself out, but the snow was extremely powdery; she couldn't get any purchase. Somehow, she did keep a hold of Ron's backpack, so she at least knew where he was. They slid almost a hundred feet down the mountain, before Kim realized that they were headed toward a cliff that they had passed on the way up. Fortunately, a plan formed.

The red-head knew to be prepared when climbing in the mountains like this, so she had an ice ax handy-and as she slid down, she passed a small tree. With a loud 'thwack', she embedded the blade, stopping their descent. Ironically, the hit was enough to cause the snow in the tree to fall; and on the steep grade, that snow quickly began rolling downhill, an avalanche had been formed.

Both young teens got to their feet, before turned to each other. Kim growled at her friend. "Look what you've done now! You started an avalanche!"

Ron wisely decided not to comment that she had started it, although it had technically been his fall that made the go tumbling.

"What're we going to do? They haven't finished the wall yet, it'll destroy the town!"

Kim froze for half a second, until a daring plan formed in her mind. She quickly whipped out the walkie-talkie she had been given, and told the authorities about the avalanche. They acknowledged her call, and told her that they would have to evacuate the town; they also told her to avoid the rolling snow, and return to another town a few miles off. They then cut the signal, to focus on the evacuation. When Kim and Ron had volunteered for the notification mission, they had been told to report in on any avalanches, and then stay out of the way, the adults had wanted to keep the teens out of danger. Kim had other ideas in mind, however.

Motioning to Ron, she pulled out a small collapsible snowboard that she had been given for Christmas just a few months ago. The light weight device was perfect for getting down the mountain quickly, and she was very adept at handling it. Her sidekick pulled his own out, and fumbled with it, finally ready to join her. Once Kim was sure he was going to be right behind her, she set off. Ron...did his best to follow.

As the teen traveled down the mountain, she did her best to avoid the rolling snow; it was traveling in a fairly direct-down hill path, so she was easily able to stay near without cutting into it. Kim ran through her plan twice, hoping that there was a chance that it would work, she'd never done something like this before. She was so intent on her plan, she didn't notice that the avalanche had reached a sharp hill about thirty feet below her; the snow was piling up, and drifting sideways around it, right into her path.

Kim gasped, then twisted with her snowboard, jumping up into the air. Incredibly, she managed to land on a small tree that had been uprooted by the snow. She planted herself of it, then launched off; the acrobatic move carried her forward, and she landed in front of the avalanche; now all she had to do was outrun it to the bottom.

Easier said than done. The snow was coming in a large wave, picking up speed as the hill sloped more and more. Fortunately, as the hill sloped, Kim gained speed too-she was quickly able to outdistance the snow, thanks to her skills and her advanced snowboard. As she raced downhill, the red head scrunched her body up low, like she had seen people do in skiing contests. Soon the trees were racing by at breakneck speed. While most people would be terrified by the chance of hitting one of the trees, Kim was in her element, acting solely on instinct; she would just know when a tree was in her path, and slightly adjust her snowboard.

Within a few minutes, she had outpaced the rolling snow.

Inwardly, she grinned. This was the entire reason that she'd come up-snowboarding at breakneck speed, letting her daredevil nature take the forefront. As she wove in and out of the trees in front of her, she realized that she was enjoying this even more than she would under normal circumstances, the added adrenaline rush of trying to outrun the snow, save the town; she'd only had feelings like this a handful of times before.

Now, if she just remembered things correctly...Kim shot out between two trees, into the clearing just before the town; she quickly looked around to get her bearings. When she and Ron had first started up the mountain, they had passed a rather large slope. Kim hoped that if she could cause she snow to avalanche off the hill, it might be enough to combat the other snow coming down toward the town. She was able to take her momentum and quickly went up the hill, finally nearing the top. She had to plan things just right, or else the two avalanches wouldn't hit, and this would all be for nothing.

The red head heard the rumbling snow get louder, and knew that now was her chance; unfortunately, as she looked down, then around, she realized something-she had no idea how to start an avalanche. Kim looked around frantically, then started kicking and pushing at the snow, doing everything she could to try and get the snow to start moving, nothing. There weren't any trees nearby, and she wasn't packing things quick enough to get any sort of movement. She was almost ready to admit defeat when saw something come rolling down the hill, then up the slope toward her.

As it got closer, she realized that it was a huge snowball. She peered at it closely, and spotted something sticking out...a snowboard. It rolled up, then finally stopped right in front of her; there was a muffled yell from inside, then the snow broke apart, revealing her best friend. Kim leaned down to help Ron to his feet; he looked a little green, but was otherwise fine.

"KP, next time, I'm going down the hill first; you can try and follow me." He looked around.

"Ron! You did it!"

"Did what?"

He turned toward her, to see that she was pointing down the hill. He followed her finger, then realized that she was pointing toward the snow-the cracked parts of his snowball had begun rolling, starting a mini-avalanche that finally grew, then rushed down the hill. The timing was perfect, and the two great snow piles met; and where the two avalanches met, the snow began packing and forming a barrier. The snow coming down from the mountain top was diverted-they had saved the town!

The red headed teen pulled out her walkie-talkie. "Heinrich? This is Kim Possible. We've stopped the avalanche-the town is safe."

X X X X

"Kimmie-cub!" Kim's parents rushed out to meet her and Ron. "We heard that there was an avalanche!"

The redhead just gave a little shrug. "It was no big, really."

Heinrich came up behind the four, and Kim turned to address him.

"We managed to stop the avalanche..."

"And that was good thinking, too, Ms. Possible-you actually created a barrier for us, too-we should be able to pack a little more snow on top, and it should protect us from any other avalanches." He reached out to grab her hand. "Thank you so much, you saved out town. Now, if there's anything that we can ever do to help you, you just let us know. This town, it's not just where we live, it's our whole lives."

Kim nodded, and Heinrich continued along another thought. "I just wish I knew how that avalanche started-it might help us to prevent something like this again." The red head hesitated, feeling guilty about her part in starting the avalanche-she'd managed to save the town, but in her mind, it wouldn't have been in this position in the first place if she hadn't hit that tree at the start. She was so focused on this that she forgot the original reason they were evacuating the town-because of the unsafe conditions-an avalanche was a forgone conclusion. She opened her mouth to speak, but Ron beat her to it.

"Well, while we were on the slopes, I sorta fell down..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry."

Heinrich frowned down at the teen. If he had a dollar for every disruptive teen, he'd have been able to build concrete barriers years ago. He turned away, then back to Kim.

"Ms Possible, the newspaper was wanting to write an article on the way you saved the town. Would you be willing to come with me to get a picture for the paper?"

Surprised, she nodded. "Sure, I guess. And call me Kim..." She looked over her shoulder at her best friend. "Can Ron come too?"

Heinrich frowned, but shrugged. "Sure, Kim."

She smiled, then reached over to grab her friends hand. She tugged him behind her, following Heinrich. After a few awkward steps, Ron matched her pace. Kim watched the adults retreating back, and slowed slightly, until he was out of earshot. She leaned over, thinking about how Ron had taken the blame for starting the avalanche. "Thanks."

He looked at her quizzically. "For what?"

"You know..." She gave him a playful grin. "You're my best friend."

"Oh. Well, I am what I is..."


	2. Britina

**A/N **First off, thanks go out to Eddy13, who is beta checking my stories. He's checking things over for errors, and helped fix some of the spacing and other things on both chapters.

Second, thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed.

Both this story and the previous one came from the episode "Crush."

Now on to the story.

* * *

**CHAPTER 2: Britina**

**Ron: Oooh, hooo, hoo, sweet ride.**

**Kim: Thanks for the lift, Britina.**

**Britina: Kim, duh, it's the least I could do after you saved my Chicago show.**

**Kim: Aw, the backstage fire was no big.**

**Britina: For you, maybe, must be so awesome not to be afraid of anything...**

* * *

_Who would have ever thought that I'd have someone like Britina owe me a favor-it's like some sort of dream come true-I helped a celebrity! After I helped her out, I got a backstage tour and everything-actually, after we got off the stage, she seemed just like a normal person. She took me back to her dressing room and we talked, she even showed me some souvenirs and things she'd kept from some of her other concerts!_

_Ron and I hadn't even been planning to see the concert, but we were in town on a mission, and he saw an ad for it. He showed it to me and I read it over; this was Britina's last stop on her tour, and I totally couldn't resist coming out to see her in person; Ron was almost excited as I was. Fortunately, it was a Friday night, no school tomorrow, and both of our parents were feeling pretty generous, and let us stay. She was going to be singing at a convention center; it was going to be a little crowded because they'd had some sort of expo the day before, and hadn't totally cleaned everything up; they'd just taken some of the walls down and stacked them all over the place. It wouldn't really matter to us, because we'd all be standing anyway. Turns out that was a big mistake._

_I was just going to put this in my diary, but since I helped someone out with something, I figured I should put it with the rest of my 'mission' info. At least, that's what Ron's calling it-he says it makes it sound so much cooler, I guess I have to agree. Calling it a mission makes it sound like it's important, that I'm actually doing something that helps people in a big way. I guess we really helped in a big way for lots of people tonight..._

X X X X

"KP, I'm so excited." Ron was jumping up and down. "I mean, we're actually going to a concert by ourselves-no parents to say, 'You call this music? In my day...'" Ron did a passable imitation of Kim's father.

Despite the situation, Kim was wearing a serious face. "Don't get too crazy, Ron, they're giving us a lot of trust to let us come see this by ourselves, we can't blow this."

"Yeah, I know..." He nodded twice, trying to stay serious…it wasn't going to happen. "Come on, KP, aren't you psyched? This is _the_ Britina-in concert! So close I could touch her!" He started giggling, and a few people nearby gave him strange looks.

Kim shook her head, mumbling to herself. "I'm just glad that Bernice was able to hold her plane for a couple of hours until we finish with the concert, so she can take us back to Middleton."

They were standing outside the city's convention center, a large building, with lots of floor to ceiling, reinforced glass. Kim and Ron had arrived at the center almost twenty minutes early, in the hopes of getting a good seat; unfortunately, it looked like a lot of people had the same idea, there was a rather long line to wait through. About fifteen minutes later, they finally reached the front and passed through. Ron turned back to his friend.

"KP, we're in!" He held his ticket high, like it was a sword that would cut through the crowd.

She frowned at him. "Amp down, Ron, serious, remember? We're just two teens out to…" She reached out and grabbed Ron's arm tightly, all attempts at pretense gone. "Look! Look, it's her!" She tugged him along. "Come on, lets get closer."

"Booyah!"

Soon they were standing just off the stage; looking up in awe. When they were with their parents, they usually stayed near the back-between Kim's' dad saying the music wasn't as good as what he listened to, and Kim's mom warning of the dangers of loud music, they'd never been this close-if Kim wanted too, she could have climbed up on stage.

The band in the back was still going through their warmups, and Britina was sitting to one side, so the two teens just stood and watched, eagerly waiting for the concert to begin. The place was packing up quickly, to the point that they were almost pressed against each other, and into the stage. They barely had any room to move, but both didn't care; they were waiting for the music to start.

Well, something did start, but it wasn't what they were expecting.

"Fire!"

The call came from near the entrance, and soon screams joined the call. Kim and Ron were instantly on the alert, turning around to see what was going on. They quickly spied the danger-near the back of the room, some of the collapsible walls had caught fire. Kim gasped as she realized that the fire had started back behind the stage somewhere, and had spread, probably going behind the walls, until it had burst out of the wall. Despite the size of the fire, it still wasn't too aggressive yet; but while the fire wouldn't be too dangerous in most cases, two things made this a disaster. The first was that the sprinkler system was not working. The second was that the fire was spreading in front of the main doors. They had no way out.

"KP!" Ron looked around in terror, hyped up in his own fear just as much as the rest of the crowd. "We're gonna get burned alive."

Kim looked over at him; then yelled at him to calm down. He couldn't hear her, and kept freaking out. After waving her arms didn't get his attention, she leaned in and grabbed him tightly, then whispered in his ear "Ron, focus. We have to do something."

She pulled back, and his wide, fear-filled eyes almost caused Kim to freak out herself. Fortunately she was able to reign in that fear, then steel herself against it. She looked around.

Most of the people that were pushing around, away from the fire, were all clustered around the front of the stage. Kim looked to the stage itself, then climbed up onto the stage, pulling Ron with her. A few seconds later, they had moved onto the stage, and back towards Britina and the band. The teen music star was standing in shock, her eyes wide and fearful at the blazing inferno working its way towards them. A light touch by Kim worked her out of her fear. "Wha...What?"

"The sprinkler system-the fire extinguishers, why aren't they working?"

"I-I don't know." She turned, and started backing away from the fire, before focusing on Kim again. Finally she looked over her shoulder, at the backstage area. "Follow me."

Britina led the two offstage, back into the area that housed her room, as well as the different equipment and things that she used on her concerts. As soon as they were backstage, Kim looked around, seeing that one section of the hall was lit up with fire; she guessed that was where the fire had started before spreading. Britina led them in the opposite direction.

They headed down a short hall way before turning a corner, going into another small area behind the stage. It was basically just a closet and a couple of small rooms-the maintenance room, and some supply closets. The teen singer led them directly to a man in the back, standing near the small closet door; he was bent over, looking at something and grunting.

"Joe...Joe, why aren't the sprinklers working?" As the man pulled his head out, Kim realized that he must be the engineer and sound director for Britina's music group. His face was covered in dust and soot, and he had a small cut over one eye, probably from trying to wedge himself into a tight area.

"The fire started back stage here somewhere, and it looks like it managed to damage the sensors in the fire detectors, that's why they aren't working. The manual override is here in the maintenance closet, but..." He looked at the three teens. "...the sprinkler pipe is jammed-I think the safely shut-off has gotten locked somehow, and I can't reach it. I'm too big." he quickly sized up the three kids. "We need someone smaller."

Kim didn't hesitate, squeezing forward into the small area, then twisting her body in a number of ways, doing her best to reach the area that she needed. She realized that she was close, and could even get one finger on the metal-but she couldn't quite get enough of a grip to do anything. She winced, pressed again, and realized it was too far. She needed something smaller...

An idea hit. "Ron! Rufus! Get Rufus, he can reach the shutoff!"

Finally the blond nodded, and pulled something out of his pocket. He quickly passed it to Kim, and the red-haired teen had to suppress her initial feeling of dropping the pink thing. This was the first time that she had touched it, Ron's feelings notwithstanding. She actually realized that it wasn't that bad.

The teen shook her head to get back on track, and raised the mole rat up, until she could see its face. "Rufus?"

"Hnk?" The small creature squeaked at her, confused, realizing that she wasn't the blond boy he was used to.

"Rufus, I need to you to get the safety shut off." She held the mole rat up, pointing him to the little round wheel. "I need you to spin it, so that the sprinklers will come on."

The mole rat nodded, then crawled up her hand, his little legs kicking to get leverage. Finally, she felt it crawl up onto the pipe, then she watched it move down to the water shutoff. Kim held her breath, wondering if it would know what to do, and if it would be able to do what was necessary. She needn't have worried, because the mole rat quickly figured out what it had to do; within a few seconds, it had turned the valve, and the teen heard water rushing through the pipes around her. Seconds after that, there was the sounds of water falling, and a hissing sound as the fire was put out.

"Kim, Kim, it worked, you did it!" Ron grabbed her leg, yelling in to her.

She nodded to herself, then looked up. The mole rat slowly made it's way down to her, and she picked it...him, up off the pipe, bringing him to where she could see him. "Thanks Rufus, you really saved the day."

The little pink mole rat grinned up at her shyly. "Hnk, aww, thanks."


	3. Paulie

**A/N** Well, originally I was going to try and write these in order of the episodes, but I don't think that is going to happen; instead, I'm just going to write them in them in the order I get ideas-so I guess it really depends on which episodes I've seen recently.

Again, thanks to Eddy13 for beta checking, and everyone who has reviewed.

From the episode "Low Budget."

* * *

_**Chapter 3: Paulie**_

**Kim: Thanks for the ride, Paulie**

**Paulie: What, are you kidding? Your campaign for alternate side of the street parking awareness saved my life over there.**

**Kim: What's ten thousand windshield flyers, no big.**

* * *

_Oy. I don't think I have ever walked that much in a single day. Who knew that passing out ten thousand flyers would take so long. Note to self: Never pass out flyers again. Actually, it wasn't so bad; Ron was there with me most of the time, so he did a lot of work too. Between the two of us, we've probably walked more today than anyone in history. _

_I like to help lots of people, with lots of different things, and I've handed out flyers before-but I never realized how big a job it could be if you only have two people. Besides handing out the flyers, we had to drive all over town, talk to people we passed, people getting out of their cars; we even made a couple of trips inside some businesses to place the flyers up where they could be seen. It was really sort of amazing how such a simple activity has so many things that need to be done._

_Actually, what was surprising was how I had to save someone while handing out the flyers-I never would have thought that something like alternate side of the street parking awareness could actually prevent a dangerous situation. It seems like such a simple thing, just something that you tell people, and they do it. After seeing what happened today, though, I think it's more important then ever..._

X X X X_  
_

"I so can't believe I signed up to do this." Kim moaned.

"And I can't believe that you made me come and help you."

Kim and Ron stood shoulder to shoulder, looking at the ten piles of paper sitting in front of them, a thousand pages in each stack. The red headed teen had thought that this would be a simple job, just help pass out some flyers, talk to a few people as she walked by them on the side walk, and be back by lunch. That was before she was told that the entire volunteer staff had come down with dysentery after visiting some place called Port Mystic Cove Haven. Now, the two of them had to pass out all the flyers, a job that was supposed to take fifty people almost an hour to do.

Ron leaned against the side of the truck they had borrowed, and whistled. "That's a lot of paper." He frowned and turned to her. "What was this for again?"

"Alternate side of the street parking awareness." Kim answered, still a little preoccupied with how she was going to get the paper handed out.

"Alternate...Streetside...Weirdness?"

The red head finally focused on her friend, and repeated what she had said. "Alternate side of the street parking awareness. It means that the people who park their cars on one side of the street have to move them to the other side on certain days. You know, for street cleaning and stuff."

She sighed, then reached down, picking up a small pile of the papers, handing them to Ron, then grabbing a few for herself. It hardly made a dent.

"Look, Ron, you start on the left side there, and I'll start on the right, and we'll just go down this street, putting the pages under the windshields, you know?"

She turned her back for a second, checking her list of streets they had to visit, and trying to figure out how long it would take them. She turned back, watching as Ron slipped and let the papers fly from his grasp.

"Ron!"

"On it!"

He dashed out, trying to grab a few of the papers, making his way out in to the middle of the street. Instantly there were a number of blaring horns and screeching of tires as people weaved around him, avoiding the crazy blond chasing the papers. Fortunately, no one hit him, and he was soon on the other side of the street, chasing the pages. He stopped for a second, and to Kim's complete surprise, the papers caught the wind, then rushed at the parked cars, each flyer slipping right under a windshield wiper.

She gaped at him in amazement. The blond made his way back over to Kim, then leaned up against the side of the truck, with a small smirk. "Well, that was very serendipitous."

His best friend gave him a sidelong glance, and he shrugged. "School word." He went around and hopped up on the truck's tailgate. "I'm done. Let me know when you're ready to go to the next area."

Kim growled low for a second, eying him, before grabbing a stack of papers, then walking over and slapping it against his chest. "Well, if you're done then, you can help me with my side of the street."

The blond slipped off the tailgate with a grumble, following her out to put the flyers in place.

X X X X

"Excuse me, sir, have you heard about the new alternate side of the street parking law?"

Kim quickly handed the man a flyer, explaining everything he needed to know about the system. He smiled and took it from her, thanking her, then continuing on his way. The red head turned and looked down at the last few papers in her stack; she quickly put them under the last vehicles on this street, then turned and headed back up towards the truck. They were only about half-way done.

As Kim made her way up the sidewalk, she watched as Ron passed out his last couple of flyers, then rushed across the street towards her. She winced as she heard more horns blaring as he crossed the street; finally he joined her. "Five thousand pages to go."

Ron looked at her incredulously. "You say that like it's a good thing. We're only halfway?"

She nodded.

"Great Googly Moogly."

They reached the truck, and he flopped forward onto the tailgate, his head resting against the metal bed. Instantly he jerked upwards, yelping. "Ow, hot, hot, it burns."

Kim sighed, then pulled out one of the water bottles they had in a cooler in the back, splashing some water on her hand that she then slapped against her friend's head. He winced for a second, then smiled. "Oh, that feels nice."

The teen smirked, reaching her other hand down to grab some ice from the cooler. She picked up a particularly large piece, then slid her hand up past Ron's shoulders, before dropping it down his back. He yelped again, quickly spinning and grasping at his back as the cold ice slid down. Finally it dropped to the ground with a wet 'thup.' The blond started to reach for his own piece of ice to respond in kind, but Kim grabbed his hands, holding him back.

Realizing that they could use a quick break, Kim went around to the front of the truck, and leaned in the cab, pulling out a large towel that she spread across the tailgate. She then hopped up, and Ron joined her, drinking from some of the water they had brought along. The redhead looked at her friend. "Um, Ron?" He returned her look with a quizzical glance.

"You need to be more careful."

"Careful? Is that about putting my head on the tailgate?"

She shook her head. "No. Well, yes, but not just about that. You need to watch what you're doing, to make sure you don't get hurt or something. You were running after those papers, right into the middle of the street. You did the same thing when you came back after delivering those last flyers."

"I was watching." He said, defensively.

"No, you weren't." The red head insisted. "You're my best friend, Ron, and I don't want anything to happen to you. Sometimes you don't pay attention to things like here, or when we are on our missions. I just don't want you to get hurt. Will you promise to stay safe, and pay more attention? For me?"

Ron looked into her green eyes, captivated for a heartbeat. "Sure, KP, you know I'll do anything for you." He continued staring back at her, then blinked and shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I'll pay more attention to what I'm doing, I promise." He turned away from her, then frowned for a second. "Hey, isn't that street sweeper moving kinda fast?"

The teen was about to chide him for getting distracted again, when she noticed that he was right-the street sweeper was moving pretty fast. What made it even worse was that a truck had just parked on the side of the road, with a set of long, steel tubes poking out of the back, directly in line with the vehicle. The driver must not have realized that he shouldn't park on that side of the road, because the street sweeper was coming through. If it kept at its current pace, it would slam into the truck, and whoever was inside the sweeper would get skewered.

Kim dashed to her feet, leaving Ron back at the truck. She crossed the distance to the other vehicle in seconds, quickly racing past it to the sweeper. She dived inside, slapping at the controls, causing the vehicle to finally slow and come to a stop. At the same time, she noted that the man driving the vehicle was bent down, looking around the floorboards. He looked up at her in surprise, then tilted his head upwards to see the vehicle parked in front, the sweeper's windshield just inches from the metal pipes.

He looked at Kim in surprise, back at the pipes, then at her again. "Thanks, miss, you saved me. I dropped my water bottle here, and bent down to get it-I totally missed those things."

The teen smiled, "Oh, it was no big, we just noticed that you were going to hit that and I figured I need to stop you. I'm Kim Possible, by the way."

"Paulie." The man offered, shaking her hand. "What're you doing out here on this hot day, anyway?"

Finally by this point, Ron had rushed up, a stack of papers in his hand. "Alternate Streetside Weirdness, get your flyer."

Kim shook her head. "Time and place, Ron, this isn't it." She turned to the man. "We're handing out flyers for alternate side of the street parking awareness."

"Really?" Paulie exclaimed, grinning. "Boy, that's great, you wouldn't believe how many times I've almost been hit, or almost hit something because people park on the wrong side of the street. This should really help out. Thank you, thank both of you. Listen, if you ever need a favor, let me know."

"Sure thing, Paulie, thanks. Well, we need to go hand out the rest of these flyers." She grabbed a few papers from Ron, then turned and waved, walking off. "Bye."

As the street sweeper headed off to continue his job, Kim turned to her best friend. "See, eyes open, you've always got to be watching things, or else you may never know what's going to happen. Good job spotting him."

"Thanks." He smiled, then took the rest of the pages back from her hand. "Hey, why don't you bring the truck around? I'll finish up the pages on this side of the street."

"Um, okay." Surprised, she passed the papers over, then turned and set out for the truck. She pulled it around, traveling further up the street, where she could walk back down with her own stack of pages, and they could meet in the middle. She got out, grabbed her papers, then started handing them out.

"Excuse me, sir, but have you heard about alternate side of the street parking..."


	4. The Colonel

**A/N **Well, it's been a couple of weeks, but I've finally got another addition to these stories. It will probably be a while until I post to these again, because I've been working on some other stories. I always figured that I would just continue adding to these stories as I got ideas and had time, so I will write more here as ideas come to mind. In the meantime, I will still be posting to my other story, A Monkey's Tail, so if you have time, check it out, too.

Anyway, thanks to Eddy13 for Beta reading, and noticing that I had a possible time line error. I made a few small changes, so everything is good now.

Also, Kudos to LuvPurple99 (and anyone else) who realized that Port Mystic Cove Haven was the location Kim and Ron went on their senior trip in "Cap'n Drakken."

Lastly, this story comes from the episode "Monkey Fist Strikes."

* * *

_**Chapter 4: The Colonel**_

_**Kim: Thanks so much for the lift, Colonel.**_

_**Colonel: Well, after the way you tipped us off to that assault Ms Possible, it's an honor and a privilege.**_

_**Ron: Anybody got gum?**_

* * *

_Well, that's the last time I'll ever consider that any mission could just be 'routine.' What should have just been a simple case of helping someone turning into a whole lot more. I've always heard about being in the right place, at the right time, but I've never believed it. I mean, yeah, it happens, but it seems like it happens to me a_ lot.

_I guess I also leaned a lesson about doing research, and knowing a little about everything that I can. I never even realized that there was a military base practically in my backyard. Maybe I need to study up on some things, see what other things I might not know about my home state. Hah, makes me wonder where Global Justice's Headquarters is located-for all I know, it could be right under my feet._

_Everything started so innocently, too. I figured since it was a routine, boring mission, that Ron might want a chance to do some more important things on the trip. I gave him a chance, and...well, he tried his best, but I don't know that I'm going to try this again. He's a great sidekick, my best friend, but there are some things I just don't think he should do. Leading a mission tops that list._

X X X X_  
_

"Ron, face it, we're lost."

"No, no...no, I know it's around here somewhere. Camp Noki is around here somewhere."

Kim and Ron stood in the middle of a forest, the trees seeming to go on forever in every direction. The two teens were turning back and forth, trying to determine which way to go, even unsure of which direction they had already come. The teens finally looked at each other.

Kim groaned. "Why did I ever let you give the directions?"

"Hey!" Ron said, defensively, "I'm the one that answered the phone, and took the message about someone needing help. Since I'd done all of that, you told me to 'lead the way.'"

The red head grumbled at him. "Yeah, because I didn't think there was anyway you could possibly get us lost." She rolled her eyes, looked around, then frowned at Ron. "This is all your fault, you know, men are incapable of asking directions. If you'd just asked that forest ranger we saw, we'd probably already be there by now."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Ron raised his hands. "Look, I'll ask the next person I see, if it makes you happy."

She nodded, then turned and looked around, trying to decide which way would be the best for them to go. Finally she chose a direction at random and started walking; Ron hesitated a few seconds, then started after her, rushing to catch up. He joined up beside her for a few steps, then moved ahead, into the lead. "Hey, I thought that this was my mission."

The teen sighed. "First off, this isn't a mission, Ron, and secondly, we're just delivering the camp director's keys so that he can drive home when he's done, then we're going home. This should have taken an hour, tops."

"Doesn't matter." Ron said, stubbornly. "You gave me dibs when I answered that phone, and got the message about delivering the keys, and..." He put his hand in his pocket, pulling out the jingling keys. "I have the 'package' so that makes me in charge."

"Right." She rolled her eyes again. "'Lead the way' then."

The next few minutes passed in silence as the two teen trudged through the woods, Kim following her best friend, occasionally rolling her eyes as he would stop and look around, like he was trying to decide which way to go. Off hand, she wondered, "How did I let you talk me into this?"

"You said, and I quote, 'Ron, if you're going to go on missions with me, you need to take a more active role.'" He motioned through the woods with his hands. "See, more active role. This is me leading." He marched forward, directly into a branch. "Ow!"

As the blond staggered back, Kim tried not to smile, coming up behind him and grabbing him carefully. "Watch what you're doing, Ron, you could get hurt on those."

He waved her off, blinking rapidly, the branch having impacted just over his eye. "No, no, I'm okay." He shook his head quickly, then frowned. "The woods are evil."

She smirked. "Evil, why you're not still thinking about that camp you went to, are you?" As he turned to her fearfully, she smirked. "What was it called again... " She grinned mischievously. "...Wannaweep?"

The blond cringed. "Ix-nay on the amp-cay, KP. It has eyes and ears everywhere."

As Kim walked past him into the lead, she looked over her shoulder, smirking. "Amp down, Ron, there's no one else out here-" She broke off as she bumped into someone, ending up on her back as she fell down. She tilted her head and looked up, blinking in surprise as she recognized the red outfit of one of Drakken's henchmen. The man had a handful of other companions, and all of the men pointed their laser stun weapons at Kim. The teen growled to herself, glaring up at them.

Ron blinked.

"So, do any of you know the way to Camp Noki?"

X X X X

Kim and Ron were forced to march through the forest, the henchmen at their backs, leading them back to the villain in charge. Drakken was standing in the middle of a clearing in the woods, barking orders at his men, while Shego was leaning up against a tree, filing her nails. As one of the henchmen nudged Ron in the back, he looked over and Kim and winked. "Let me handle this." Kim sighed.

The blond strode forward, directly at Drakken; the villain back up a step at the forceful motion, then looked them over. Ron opened his mouth. "Drakken, I don't know what you have planned, but we're going to put a stop to it, so you might as well surrender now."

Dr Drakken blinked, and frowned at the two captured teens, letting his gaze go back and forth between them, before finally settling on Ron. "Aren't you the sidekick?" He looked to Kim for confirmation.

She nodded quietly, then added, "It's his first mission in charge."

Shego looked the blond over, then smirked at Kim. "What'd you do, Princess, lose a bet?"

Now indignant, Kim stepped forward to defend her friend. "No, I just think that he could do a good job leading." She smirked at the villain. "Seems like Drakken doesn't have the same opinion of you, does it?"

Growling low, she poked a finger at her red headed foe. "Drakken's smart enough to know that I don't want a job like that. Right Dr D?" She turned to her employer.

"So, wait, you're normally the sidekick, but she's the sidekick today?"

Kim watched her arch foe, amazed. _Wow, sidekicks really confuse him. _Ron finally spoke up again. "So, what's the scheme this time Drakken? Stealing nature?"

"Ha, that shows what you know, sidekick...er...um..." He blinked, distracted for a second. "Your name escapes me at the moment, but that's unimportant." Finally regathering his wits, he continued. "No, I'm not stealing nature, I'm attacking the Cheyenne Mountain Complex." He rubbed his hands together. "Who knows what sort of wondrous military technology they have there. And I'll have it!"

As Shego tied the two teens together, Kim mumble under her breath. "Oh, I'm sure they'll 'let you have it' alright." She shook her head. "You're going to assault a military base, and you think that you have a chance? You've got a lot of henchmen, but that base will have hundreds."

Shego smirked at Drakken as she again leaned back against a tree, running the file across her claws. "Hmm, that sounds a little familiar, doesn't it Drakken? Oh, I remember now, we had that discussion this morning. Something about your henchmen being the most pathetic fighting force in the world. Not to mention you..."

The blue villain ground his teeth together. "And I told you, Shego, that won't be a problem."

The villainess looked down at her clawed gloves, blowing across the points to clean off any metal slivers. "Right, five hundred armed, highly trained men won't be a problem." She waved her hand to Drakken's assorted henchmen. "Especially with the elite fighting force we have here." As if to punctuate her sarcasm, one of the henchmen accidentally fired off one of the weapons. Drakken let loose a girlish yelp as he dodged to the side.

Ruffled, the mad doctor shook his head, regathering his courage while he made a note of the henchman's name. "That's just it, Shego. The soldiers garrisoned to the base are out on drills today, leaving only a skeleton force in command. Fifteen men. I'm sure between you and the henchmen, this won't be a problem." The villainess blinked at this new information, then turned, ready to say something to the captive teens. She needn't have bothered, as they weren't there anymore.

They had escaped.

X X X X

Kim pulled Ron behind her as they rushed through the forest blindly, doing their best to put some distance between them and the villains. It was complete and utter chance that the misfire caused by the henchman had traveled past Drakken, and cut the rope holding them captive. They had high-tailed it out of there, and finally after fifteen minutes of running, the teens felt safe enough to discuss things in a whisper.

"The Cheyenne Mountain Complex?"

Kim shook her head, unsure as well. "I don't remember anything about a military base nearby, but it's not something that I've ever looked up, either." She shrugged. "I guess there must be one around here somewhere if Drakken plans on attacking. We need to see if we can warn them."

Ron nodded, instantly deferring to her now that they really were in a mission sitch. He started to say something, then stopped. "Do you hear that?"

The red head brought her body low, slowing her breathing to a near whisper. "Drakken's henchmen?"

He shook his head, just as unsure as her. The teen stood up, slowly, looking around, before realizing that they were surrounded...again.

X X X X

"Civilians?"

Kim and Ron realized that they were surrounded by a number of soldiers in combat fatigues, weapons leveled at them. The two teens raised their hands, carefully, not wanting to give any sign of being a threat. They both looked at the man who had spoken, before another soldier stepped forward. After looking over his uniform, Kim realized that he was a colonel, and probably the man in charge.

He studied them carefully. "And kids at that. Stand down, soldiers." The men lowered their weapons, and the two teens dropped their arms. "What are you two doing out here in the woods? We've got combat drills going on, you could have been shot." As he stared at them, he was getting a definite feeling that he had seen these two somewhere before...at least the red head, for sure.

Another soldier spoke up, recognizing her. "Kim Possible?" As the teen turned to answer, the colonel remembered that he had seen them on TV recently, after foiling a villain's plot. He smiled.

Surprised at being recognized, Kim nodded. "Yes, that's me." Gathering her thoughts quickly, she described to the colonel the assault force in the woods, and the henchmen getting ready to attack their base.

"An attack? We need to warn them." The colonel motioned one man forward. "Johnson, see if you can get in contact with the HQ." The man shook his head, indicating that there was some sort of interference. Kim pulled out her Kimmunicator, and realized that she had a similar problem. The device had been acting intermittently all day, and it had never occurred to her that it might have been jammed.

The colonel turned to another man, asking for him to bring up the charts of the surrounding area. As he studied the maps, he frowned to himself. Kim joined him, looking over his shoulder, so he explained. "We're here." He marked a point in one corner of the map. "The Cheyenne Complex is over here." He marked another spot, in the opposite corner of the map. "It'll take us almost three hours to get back to base on foot. We'll never make it."

"Then what do we do?"

"Here." He pinpointed a spot a short distance from their location. "There's a small airstrip, here, that we should be able to use. They keep a plane on standby, and we should be able to paradrop over the base. That should give us plenty of time to get there ahead of Drakken."

"Well then, lets go!" Ron started off, then stopped when he noticed no one was following him. He looked back. "It's the other way isn't it?"

X X X X

They reached the airport shortly, and got loaded up in record time. Kim and Ron had joined the soldiers, knowing that their unique skills might come into play as well. The teens managed to sit next to each other, just across from the colonel. The man signaled to the front, and the plane took off in a burst of speed.

The special twin engine jet took off, barely clearing the woods around them, then started upwards in a steep ascent. Kim looked to her friend, next to her, as he started gulping.

"KP, my ears! My head is going to explode!"

The teen felt her own ears pop, and winced. "Amp down, Ron, it's because of the altitude."

The colonel leaned forward into the gap, a small item held in his hand. "Gum?" Both teens readily took a piece, chewing on it to help with their problem. As an aside, the colonel looked at Kim. "It's his first time in a jet, isn't it?" She nodded back, smiling slightly as she watched Ron look around, his gaze traveling all over the plane as he took it all in.

The ride itself took only a few minutes, getting them over the drop point in record time. Kim had gotten rid of her gum as soon as they had reached altitude, but Ron continued chewing his, waiting as they reached the bail out point of their flight. The soldiers went first, reaching the end and jumping, and soon enough it was Kim and Ron's turn, with the colonel right behind them. Ron hesitated at the end as he usually did, and the red head nudged him. Finally he jumped, and instantly began yelling.

Unfortunately, he'd forgotten about the gum in his mouth, and it went spiraling off into the air.

The blond gulped, looking down and pulling his chute. As his descent slowed, he heard another pair of similar sounds behind him, and twisted his head, spotting Kim and the colonel following. He turned back to watch what he was doing, and soon sailed to the ground, making a fairly poor landing; his feet hit, followed by his knees, then chest as he laid out flat. The parachute fell over his prone body.

After a few seconds of rolling around in the silky material, he uncovered himself, noticing most of the soldiers were already grouped together. He noticed Kim looking at him, giving him a disapproving stare...and if he looked closely, he could have sworn that she was trying not to smile. Figuring that she was critiquing his landing, he walked closer, until he noticed one of the soldiers glaring at him darkly. As he neared, he realized why the man was upset.

There was a large sticky piece of gum stuck smack dab in the center of his chest.

Ron winced as he watched the soldier take out a sharp knife, brandishing it at him. He yelped and hid behind Kim, watching as the man smirked, then lifted the blade up to his chest, using it as best he could to get the sticky stuff off, before tossing the gum to the side, a pink splotch still in the center of his chest. The soldier give Ron one last glare before seating his knife back in its sheath.

The colonel shook his head for a moment, then motioned to his men, and Kim and Ron, pointing in the direction they needed to go. The small squad set out, and within a few minutes, there were outside the main entrance to the mountain complex, pausing at the edge of the forest, still under cover. The colonel motion Kim and Ron forward so he could whisper to them.

"There's the entrance, Ms Possible, that's probably where that villain is planning to attack. I think we should be able to hold them there; it's a good, defendable position, we can keep them busy until we are able to contact some of the other squads."

Kim shook her head and smiled. "I think you're giving Drakken way too much credit. We don't need to defend the base, we need to catch him as he attacks. If we wait here, and ambush him when his men go to attack, I bet he'll give up. He wasn't expecting any sort of resistance-so he should just crumble and give himself up."

The colonel looked at her, weighing his options. Finally making a decision, he nodded. "You're more familiar with this villain, Ms Possible, so we'll do as you suggest. What exactly are you thinking?" As the teen explained, the colonel nodded, smiling to himself, as well, realizing that she had a good plan.

X X X X

"Shego. Shego! Where's that bug spray? These mosquitoes are the size of dragon flies. There's one on me! There's one on me!" Drakken entered the clearing just outside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, waving his arms around rapidly, a number of blood sucking bugs flitting about him.

Shego came up behind him, sighing tiredly; for some reason the bugs were avoiding her, and even the henchmen, and had instead latched on to the mad doctor. She motioned at him, and he turned, looking frantic. She reached out with a hand, slapped him, keeping as straight a face as she could. "Got one."

Drakken brought his hand up to his cheek, only to watch another land on his hand. "Kill it, kill it!"

The villainess finally got the bug spray out, coating the doctor, and the insects soon left. She tossed the can back to one of the henchmen, then walked towards the gate, Drakken right beside her. She looked sideways at him. "Are you finished with your 'freak out' now? Let's steal this stuff and get to the lair. The new season of American Starmaker comes on tonight." Drakken opened his mouth to answer, but someone else beat him to it.

"Oh, I like that show. The one judge is sorta mean, though."

Both villains snapped their heads around, looking at the main gate. They had recognized the voice, and watched as the blond sidekick stepped out, followed by Kim. The red headed teen followed up her friend's comment.

"I think you're going to miss tonight's show, Shego. Then again, maybe they get cable in prison."

"You think you can stop us, Princess? You and what army?"

The teen took a few steps forward, and opened her hands wide. "The United States Army, of course." Shego turned her head around as she watched a dozen soldiers stand up, bringing their weapons to bare on the villains and henchmen. All of Drakken's men hesitated for a second, but then put their weapons down, hands in the air as they surrendered. Even Drakken had given up. Shego turned back to her teenage foe. "Nice try, pumpkin, but _I'm_ not going to roll over and give up."

"Not without a fight."

The villainess launched herself at her foe, throwing a high kick, then trying to catch her upside the head with a swinging strike. Kim backed up, dodging the blows, then frowned as she watched the villain's hands flare up in their characteristic glow. The teen did a quick backflip as Shego slashed though the air, with the intend of disabling the red head.

Ron and the soldiers watched as Kim fought with Shego. For the military men, it was a rare treat to see someone else fighting, not to mention the skills of the combatants. More than one of the soldiers realized that they wanted no part in the confrontation; besides, Kim seemed to be holding her own quite well.

As the villainess attacked again, Kim finally spotted an opportunity; the teen easily slipped low, under the slash, catching Shego's wrist, and twisting to flip her. At the same time, she let her hands slide down, gripping the edge of the villain's gloves, pulling them off.

Shego dropped to her feet lightly, then looked down at her hands, almost in shock. "You took my gloves!"

Kim nodded, holding them in the air, parading them back and forth. "Let's see your hands glow without these, Shego." She smirked. "This should make keeping you in prison a lot easier." The villainess narrowed her eyes, before putting her hand up in the air, surrendering as well. The soldiers quickly took her into custody as well, and the colonel approached the two teens.

"Nice work, Kim, now if you'll wait here just a minute, I'll contact the general, and get someone here to take these villains off to jail." The colonel left, going into a small guard shack just off the main entrance. A few seconds later he came back out, indicating that a prison transport was on the way.

"Oh, and Ms Possible? General Hammond wants me to give his thanks for helping to keep this base secure, and if you ever need a favor, just let me know."

"Thanks, but it was no big, it's what I do."

Ron raised his hand and waved it back and forth. "Actually, I do have a question." He looked over at Kim, then back to the colonel. "Do you know where the camp Noki is? We got lost trying to find it."

The colonel nodded, smiling for a second. "Actually, yes, it's right over that ridge there." He pointed, and the two teens looked at each other. It seems everything had worked out well for them in the end. Then thanked the man, then headed out to finally deliver the keys.

As the teens moved out of earshot, one of the men turned to the colonel, speaking out of the side of his mouth. "Doesn't that kid know that men don't ask for directions?"

X X X X

Meanwhile, Shego was let to an armored prison van, and she was put inside; she watched as a second van was filled with Drakken and his henchmen. She briefly smiled to herself, thinking it was amusing that they had an entire van for her, and crammed the rest of the villains in the other one. They really must consider her fairly dangerous.

As she was placed on her seat, then handcuffed, she relaxed a moment, and heard the soldiers check that the other van was ready to follow. A few second later, she felt the vehicle under her lurch, then start off. She could see out the back of the windows, the plated glass, covered with bars, intended to keep her inside.

Shego grinned to herself, they thought she was defenseless, that she would be easy to keep imprisoned; they were about to learn differently. This wasn't the first time that a foe had mistaken her gloves for the source of her unique plasma power. She let her hands glow at the thought, and was easily able to get rid of the cuffs holding her. Now, to get her gloves, bust out Drakken and the henchmen...

...and hopefully she'd be back in time to watch her show.


	5. Mr Blumburg

**A/N **Back again, with another early mission for Kim and Ron. I've had this for a little while, figured I'd save it for a week when I didn't have anything else to post-so here we go.

Thanks to Eddy13 for beta reading.

From the episode "Coach Possible."

* * *

_**Chapter 5: Mr Blumburg  
**_

_**Kim: Thanks for the ride, Mr Blumburg.**_

_**Mr. Blumburg: I owe you one, Kim, I never would have gotten around the world in eighty days if you hadn't saved me from that hurricane.**_

_**Kim: Anyone could have steered a hot air balloon through gale force winds. I'm just glad Ron was around to serve as a ballast.**_

_**Ron: This time I'm staying inside the basket.**_

* * *

_Poor Ron. I feel sorry for him, after what he went through today. I know that he's already sort of afraid of heights, and going through what he did? I'll probably never get him to jump out of an airplane again. It's kinda funny, really, he used to be so excited about hot air balloons-always said that they were so peaceful and great for marinating. Whatever._

_Once we got the balloon back on track, I guess he did do his fair share of relaxing; or maybe he just passed out-it was sort of hard to tell. There really was something pretty peaceful about sitting in that balloon, though, while we were waiting for things to settle down, so that we could go home. The weather was bad enough that we had to stay in the balloon for a couple of hours._

_I'll admit, I've always wondered about how someone could go around the world in a hot air balloon-especially in eighty days-I mean, you're basically just letting the wind blow you wherever it takes you-you could get blown back the way you came for crying out loud. After what happened to Mr. Blumburg I'm more sure than ever-give me something with control any day._

X X X X

"Kim! I can't see anything!"

"Neither can I! Keep looking!" Kim yelled back, then turned and looked over her shoulder. "Are you sure he's out here?"

Kim and Ron were currently in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, doing their best to save resident Middleton balloonist Mr Blumburg. They had actually be out on another, completely separate, difficult mission, and had hoped to get home soon, but Wade had realized that their services could be used elsewhere. As it as, Kim and Ron found themselves searching the sky for a red and yellow balloon. This wouldn't have been such a big deal, except for one small problem.

Mr Blumburg was lost in a hurricane.

Mr. Aero Notte, a member of Mr Blumburg's ground team, nodded at the teens, yelling over the storm to answer Kim's question. "Yes, his transmitter is still going, so he's still up there. I can't see anything either, but we're practically right beneath him."

The red head nodded back, not trusting her voice to carry across the distance. She turned to Ron, standing next to her, then pointed up. "I think this is as good as we're going to get. Are you ready, Ron?"

"No!"

She smirked and slapped him in the back, hearing a loud whoosh as the rocket pack on his back ignited, sending him into the air. The teen watched him rocket up, then turned and gave Mr Notte a thumbs up, before igniting her own back-pack jetpack. Within a few seconds, she was up, in the air, following Ron's trail as best she could. The heavy rains pouring down on her obscured her vision, and she was thankful that she had a helmet on. The wind buffeted her as well, and Kim realized that this probably wasn't the best way to test Wade's rocket packs-but it had been an emergency.

Kim used a hand to wipe at her visor, trying to clear off enough water that she could see where she was going; unfortunately, each swipe lasted only a few seconds, forcing the teen to repeatedly shift her body so she could swipe at her helmet. She realized that she couldn't even see Ron now, and if it weren't for the small HUD and blips in her visor, she would never have known where he was going. As it was, she followed him hoping to catch up so that they could work together.

As it turns out, she needn't have bothered. Following Ron's trail, she burst out of the hurricane, into the center of the storm, where it was rather peaceful. To her surprise, she realized that Ron wasn't that far ahead of her; within just a few seconds, she had caught up, flying right next to him. She yelled over at him, hoping he could hear, wondering if their helmet mikes were working. "Ron, slow down, we need to do this together."

His voice came back, clear, but frantic. "I'm trying. What was it Wade said about this? 'Tight flight?' Or was it-" He broke off as his jetpack soared up higher.

"Ron, quit fooling around. Squeeze the trigger to use more thrust, use the joystick. I thought this would be easy since you play all those video games."

He retorted back. "I don't remember playing many games with people strapped to rockets, then shot into the air."

The blond was about to say more, but Kim cut him off. "Heads up, Ron, we're going back into the storm." In the short time they had been talking, they had crossed the eye of the storm, and were about to head back into the buffeting winds. Her friend gave a short groan, and then they both flew back into the storm.

Just a few seconds after they reentered the storm, Kim heard a small cry from Ron over her helmet's microphone. She turned, swiveling her head back and forth, looking for him, quickly seeing what he had-a small burst of color against the blackened sky. She arched her body, quickly banking the direction she needed to go, Ron a ways a head of her.

The red head watched her friend close distance with the hot air balloon, and as she watched him, she realized that he was coming in too fast. "Ron, slow down!" She heard a muffled yell, then watched as Ron's jetpack cut all thrust; he slapped against the side of the balloon's basket, then slowly slid down. At the same time, his foot, caught in a rope on the side of the balloon, whipped him around, then left him hanging just under the basket. He yelped, and Kim heard him mumbling, so she knew he was okay.

Kim slowed her speed as she approached the balloon, quickly pulling back on her control joystick, flipping her body upwards so that she hovered in the air. She reached out in a smooth motion, grabbing the side of the basket, hauling herself in, and flipping off her jetpack. She rolled into the center of the gondola, then up to her feet, looking around for Mr Blumburg.

The adult was slumped against the side of the basket, a small knot on his head. The red head took her helmet off, setting it to the side, then knelt down. Kim realized that he had likely been caught by surprise by the gale force winds, and had staggered and hit his head against the burner, and lost consciousness. She considered trying to wake him up, but then a gust of wind hit the balloon and basket, causing her to stagger. The teen shook her head, realizing that they needed to do something about the storm first.

The teen took her jetpack off so that she could move easier, then thought back for a second, remembering the eye of the hurricane, where the winds were less intense; she figured with a little luck, they should be able to get the balloon into the calm of the storm. She looked around, trying to figure out which way the wind was blowing. She paused when she heard a yell, then ran fearfully to the edge of the basket, wondering if something had happened to Ron. She leaned over the side.

"What?"

His voice carried up to her, faintly. "Ow. Hail!"

Kim shook her head. "No, Ron, I can't help you yet, I need to get us out of here!"

Ron's voice came again, this time laced in pain. "Not help, hail! It's hailing!"

As Kim leaned over a little further, she realized that she was feeling something impact her thick hair and back. She turned her face slightly, planning to look up, when she felt something hard hit her cheek. Wincing, she cupped her hand, quickly catching some of the marble sized hail. In this size it wasn't dangerous to them, or the balloon, but it could quickly get worse-and Ron, out from under the balloon and basket, had to being get pelted.

Kim raised her arms and yelled, more to herself than anyone, "Could this day get any worse?" As if taking her words as a challenge, the hurricane gave another large burst of air, and Kim went tumbling against the side of the basket, then flipped over the side. Only her incredible reflexes saved her from the fall; the teen was able to get one arm over the side of the basket, holding on tightly, her feet kicking in the air.

As she hauled herself back in, she grumbled to herself. "Great, Possible, good going, you just had to ask. That'll teach me..."

Finally getting her feet back under her, she looked around, again trying to decide which way the wind was blowing, and which way she needed to go. She had gotten turned around in all the action, but after a few seconds, she knew where she needed to go. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing her the wrong direction.

Using what little ballooning experience she had, the teen turned to the burner, quickly cranking it up to full, hoping that it would give her enough lift. The balloon started upwards, slowly, but not quick enough. Figuring there was too much weight in the basket, with three people instead of one, Kim grabbed her jet pack, tipping her head in an apologetic 'sorry' to Wade, then tossed it over the side. It quickly fell into the ocean beneath them, and the balloon was lifting again, a little faster.

It still wasn't fast enough, and as Kim looked out, she realized that the hail was getting larger, and could soon present a danger to the balloon. She leaned her head over the side of the basket, feeling the hail bounce in her thick hair, the rest hitting painfully against her back. "Ron, lose the jetpack!"

He looked up her, then whimpered. If he tossed the jet pack, he'd have no way to break his fall if the rope slipped underneath him. As he winced up at her, she realized that the jet pack wasn't only his lifeline, but was also stopping some of the hail from hitting him. With a final groan, he cut the jet pack loose, then placed his hands over his head, doing his best to shield himself from the hail. Kim instantly went to work, using every trick she could think of to keep the balloon moving.

Finally, slowly, the balloon moved through the air, with the currents of the wind. It took nearly fifteen minutes, but the red head was able to get the balloon out of the storm, into the eye in the center of the hurricane. Around this time, Mr Blumburg finally started to regain consciousness; within a few minutes, he was able to take over from Kim, steering the balloon carefully, keeping it inside the eye.

Once she realized that she was free, Kim leaned over the side of the basket, grabbing the rope holding Ron; she quickly hauled him up, hand over hand, bringing him to the edge, where she was able to grab the back of his shirt and haul him in. They both fell backwards into the basket, Ron groaning the whole way.

Kim looked up at Mr Blumburg, but the balloonist was focused on his task, keeping them in the eye of the storm. The red head turned back to Ron, lifting his head so that she could look at his face. She winced as she looked at the small welts on his face and head, then looked into his eyes. "Ron, focus on me for a second." He did, blinking twice, his chocolate brown eyes locking with hers. She gave a relieved sigh as she confirmed that he didn't have a concussion or major head injury.

She turned, intending to stand up and help Mr Blumburg, but Ron groaned again as she moved, and she realized that he must hurt all over from the hail. She laid back again, carefully, placing her hand against Ron's back, then pulling him against her, to lay down, his back across the basket, his neck and head in her lap.

Kim sat with her back against the wall of the basket, feeling the balloon drift though the air, back and forth, slowly. She felt content, looking down, seeing Ron's head laying in her lap. He was still a little pale, but looked to be doing better after being outside the basket. His eyes were still closed, his breaths coming in slow wheezes as he tried to calm down, his bruises hurting no matter how he laid. Kim absently ran her hands through his hair, ruffling it, since it had already been mussed up by the wind.

The teen felt Ron finally seem to relax, his face regaining its normal color. She slowly continued to stroke his hair, before leaning her head back against the basket, her eyes closing at the soothing rocking. She drifted off to sleep.

X X X X

By the time Kim woke, it was nearly dusk, as best as she could tell. The storm seemed to have abated quite a bit, and Mr Blumburg seemed to be having an easier time of working things. He looked over at the two teens, then smiled. "Ah, good, you're up. Are you and your friend doing well?"

Kim nodded back. "Yes, I'm fine, but I think Ron's still pretty tired." She again stroked his hair lightly, "I don't think he's budged."

Mr Blumburg looked to his burner, adjusted it, then turned back to her. "Yeah, it looks like it's just some bumps and bruises." He continued almost absentmindedly. "You two make a cute couple."

Kim blinked. "Oh, no, we're just friends, best friends."

He gave a small smile. "Ah, I see. Anyway, thank you, and your friend, Ms..."

"Kim. Kim Possible." She made a motion with her head, trying not to move. "And this is Ron, and it was no big, Mr Blumburg, your Mr Notte contacted us, and we figured we might be able to help you out." She explained about their jet packs.

He nodded. "I wondered how you were able to get up here. Anyway, again, thank you, hopefully, I won't hit any more storms. This last one was plenty for the trip."

"Around the world in eighty days?" Kim asked, shifted slightly to get comfortable, but not enough to wake Ron.

"Yes, that's my goal." He looked out to the sky. "It looks like the storm is pretty much clearing up, Kim, so in a couple of hours, you should be able to get back down to the boat and go home. Why don't you go ahead and relax, and I'll wake you up when you two can get off."

"Are you sure? I could help with..."

Mr Blumburg shook his head, smiling. "Actually, I think you've done plenty already Kim, let me handle this, it's what I'm doing after all. And if you need my help sometime, just let me know, I'd be willing to lend you a favor if you need it."

"Thanks, Mr Blumburg." She blinked, looked around a little bit more, then relaxed, her head soon slumping back down again as she caught a few more hours of sleep.

* * *

**A/N** I always figured after the way Ron looked and sounded when he slumped down in the basket, that his ride outside the balloon was more than a little stressful.


	6. The Pilots

**A/N** As always, thanks to Eddy13 for beta reading-otherwise I'm not sure how some of these stories would look.

From 'The New Ron.'

* * *

_**Chapter 6: The Pilots**_

_**Kim: Thanks for the ride.**_

_**Female Pilot: Oh, Kim, believe me, it's the least we can do after your help during that blizzard.**_

_**Male Pilot: We never would have seen that runway without your quick thinking.**_

_**Kim: Oh, anybody could have made a high powered signaling system out of the things found in the airport gift shop**_

* * *

_I've always hated that phrase, 'be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.' It sounds like something a parent would say to a kid, a brat who always wants to get his way, throwing tantrums. I never would have expected that a phrase like that could come back to bite me. All I wanted was a little something to keep my mind off the waiting-it's not like I wanted an emergency._

_After what happened tonight, I can really see why they redirect planes when the weather is bad. When you think about the blizzard, and it being dark, slick runway, with the wind factoring in, too, it can be a real hazard to try and put a plane down. But, I guess sometimes planes aren't able to redirect, and have to land no matter the circumstances._

_I'm just glad Wade was around to help me with this. I don't think I ever realized how brilliant he is with stuff. I mean, sure, he's made all sort of gadgets and stuff for me, but he said he's worked on those for weeks, and months. What he did tonight took like ten minutes, using all sorts of random stuff. He really _is_ a genius._

X X X X

Kim grumbled from her chair in the airport, looking out the window to the darkened sky. "We were supposed to be home hours ago."

Ron mumbled at her through a mouthful of crackers. "Come on, KP, lighten up, there's nothing we can do about, we're just going to have to stay here until the blizzard clears up. Besides, that one clerk was nice enough to give us a key to the vending machine, after you sorted that problem out for her."

The red headed teen sighed as she laid back. "It was no big, just a quick rearranging of schedules, and everyone got where they needed to go." She shook her head. "I guess I was just looking forward to dinner-it's pizza night, remember?"

Her best friend stopped eating. "It's pizza night? I thought that was tomorrow. Aww, man, I was looking forward to it!" He shook his head, then tossed the crackers onto the table. "Now _I'm_ the one that wants to get home." He stood. "Come on, there aren't any flights going out?"

As Ron stood and paced, Kim smiled. Typical Ron, as soon as food was involved, everything got serious. She patted the seat next to her, and he took a couple of steps over, then sat. "How long is this storm supposed to last, anyway?"

"A couple of hours, I think. Should clear up around one or two in the morning, then they can plow the runway and make sure it's safe. After that, we can be on our way home." She motioned across the nearly empty terminal. "I just wish I had something to do." She shook her head and moaned. "I'm so not cut out for waiting."

Her best friend offered her a cracker, and after she took it, he laid back with his hands behind his head. "Well, maybe some big emergency will pop up, and you can help."

She glared at him. "Don't even joke."

The blond opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by the airport's loudspeaker. "Flight 309 will be coming in shortly, for anyone waiting for passengers."

Kim looked at her friend with a frown. "I thought they had canceled all flights coming into the airport."

Ron looked at her, just as quizzically. "Me too. Didn't they say it was too dangerous to land, especially since the visibility is so poor?"

The red head nodded back. "The runway's covered with snow, too, so that really can't be very safe." She got that gleam in her eye. "I wonder if they need any help."

Ron leaned over to push her back into her seat. "Come on, KP, we just got back from that mission, we're supposed to just wait until we go home. Besides, these people are experts, they fly and land planes for a living, I'm sure they know what they're doing."

The teen sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She laid back with a sigh, then looked across the large airport. "Hey, want to check the souvenir shop?"

The blond groaned. "I asked if you wanted to go in an hour ago, and you said no." He crossed his arms and pouted. "I'm all comfy now."

His friend rolled her eyes. "That was when we were trying to get to our flight in time. We'd have missed it, if we stopped like you wanted. Besides, you can't say 'no' to me, can you?" She leaned in, leveling her emerald eyes with his.

Captivated, Ron followed her eyes, standing as she lifted her head. He blinked a few times, looking around. Regaining his senses, he narrowed his eyes at her. "You're like some kinda snake charmer or something."

Kim laughed, then grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the gift shop. "Come on, snake-boy, the charmer wants to see what sort of pretty baubles there are in that shop." He followed dutifully, grumbled something about her 'bewitching powers.'

The teens entered the store together, before Ron finally snapped out of his funk, looking around at all of the different things in the store. His gaze traveled over the different snow globes, posters, and other souvenirs located inside. Kim watched him walk off, smiling to herself, then went over to the front to chat with the lady working the counter.

They hadn't spent that long in the store, before the lights inside flickered, then suddenly cut out. Kim grimaced, hearing Ron give a yelp; she called to him, and within a few seconds, he had joined her, holding a glowing globe with the Statue of Liberty. She smirked, realizing it was one of the lighted models, and was casting off a pretty good glow in the room. The teen was about to comment, when she heard some voices outside. She quickly moved to look out.

Three flight officers were standing together, talking in whispers that soon escalated until Kim could hear them. Listening intently, she frowned to herself.

"...Without power, we can't get the lights working for the runway. The emergency backup's been drained, I think something happened with the wiring. Flight 309 won't be able to land."

A second pilot spoke. "That's no good, they're down to fumes as it is-they've got enough to circle the airport two or three more times-there's no way they can make it to another airport. That's why they were going to land here in the first place, despite the conditions."

"What're we going to do?"

"Maybe I can help." Kim looked at the three officers, then turned, looking back at the globe in Ron's hands.

X X X X

"Wade, I know it's late, but we need some help." Kim winced as she looked at her friend's face. The genius did not look happy at being woke up at the late hour. He grumbled even more at her words, and started to reach for the switch to his screen.

"I told you, Kim, there's nothing I can do about the blizzard. It's not like I can make some sort of Mega Weather Generator to control this storm. You'll just have to wait 'til morning."

"No, Wade, wait, there's an emergency." She explained the situation quickly, as well as her idea, and soon her friend was wide awake, working on the problem.

"All right, Kim, what do I have to work with? We need some sort of high powered signaling system, right?" She nodded, then quickly gave him a list of the things they had to work with. After thinking a moment, he continued. "Okay, first get some of those globes, and pry open the back. See if you can get to the light inside."

Holding the Kimmunicator, Kim watched as Ron fumbled with the back of his globe, twisting and prying, doing his best to figure out how to get into it. Finally he grabbed the base and twisted, straining. Kim snatched it out of his hand, then passed him the Kimmunicator. She ran her fingers over it, then gripped it and twisted, feeling it pop off easily. Ron grumbled.

It took Kim almost ten minutes, with instructions from Wade, to figure out how she was going to make the signaling system. Once finished, she flipped it on, nearly blinding her blond friend. Ron staggered around, spots before his eyes, as Kim turned it back off, then looked down to Wade's face. "Looks like it works, Wade, thanks. You rock."

He nodded, and she cut the connection, then ran out towards one of the exits. Ron followed, still rubbing his eyes. The blond had the presence of mind to grab their coats, shrugging his on as he followed his best friend out into the blizzard.

Kim staggered around, lost for a few minutes, before she was able to get her bearings. By this point, Ron was behind her, and he slipped the heavy coat over her shoulders, taking the signaling system from her long enough to let her put on her coat. Finished, she again grabbed the device from Ron, then ran out into the middle of the runway.

The runway itself was covered with an inch of snow, piled up since the last plow had gone through. Kim shook her head, feeling the snow catching in her hair, the wind whipping it all around. She knelt down on the ground, brushing a section of snow away, then placed the signaling system on the tarmac. She pulled out a small walkie-talkie she had borrowed. "Okay, the signal's on, land the plane."

She stood, Ron beside her, and they both looked up to the sky, waiting and watching. Within a few seconds, over the noise of the wind, Kim started to hear a dull roaring sound. Straining her eyes, she looked up into the cloud layer, watching the storm part just the tiniest bit, the large plane punching out on its approach. Kim's eyes widened as she realized how low it was; she turned to Ron and gulped.

He looked back at her, just as wide eyed. "Do you think we should get off the runway?"

She grabbed his hand, yanking him down the runway, her first thought to try and get away from the plane-like they could outrun it. Finally common sense won over, and Kim turned to take them perpendicular to the runway, back towards the terminal, but by this point it was too late. She spun, grabbing Ron by the back, and threw him down, joining him on the ground.

The roar of the plane was deafening as it went over their heads, the front wheels missing them inches on either side. Fortunately, the engines had been throttled back, and being nearly out of fuel, there wasn't much backwash from the engines, and they were relatively safe. Ron stood, pulling Kim up to her feet, he had to yell back to her. "I'm never standing on a runway again!"

"Me neither!" For once, that was one of Ron's phobias she could agree with whole heartedly.

X X X X

Kim and Ron both stood shivering, together, just inside the airport terminal, the 141 passengers and crew of the plane thanking them. They were shaking hands, then the different passengers spread out through the terminal, members of the airport staff helping them around and getting some of them settled in, so they could wait for the next flight. Finally the two pilots approached the teens.

"Thanks for your help with that light, it direct us right onto the runway. We were perfectly dead center."

"We noticed." Ron coughed as Kim elbowed him in the side. "I mean, glad we could help, right KP?"

She smiled sweetly, repeating Ron. "We were just glad we could help out, it's what we do. When we realized the power was out, we had to do something. I'm just glad we were in the gift shop, and could get everything together."

The pilots gave their thanks again, then went deeper into the terminal, leaving Kim and Ron standing alone together. The red head looked over at her friend, gave a small shiver, then shrugged. "Well, I guess that's all the excitement for tonight. Come on, Ron, lets go back and wait for our plane."

Her friend nodded, following her over, then sat down in the seat next to her. He sprawled out, tilting his head back, letting his body relax. In just a few seconds he was out. Kim gave him an envious glare, then leaned back, yawning. She was actually pretty tired-between the late hour, the mission they had been on, and now the excitement at the airport, she was pretty much ready to crash. She closed her eyes for a second, sighed, and joined Ron in sleep.

X X X X

It was nearly fifteen minutes later when one of the ticket counters happened to be walking by, intent on telling the two teens that their flight was still a few hours off. She hadn't realized that they had gone back to their seats to wait, so she paused, looking over at them, seeing they were both asleep. She left, returning a few minutes later, a pair of blankets in her hands.

As she approached, she heard an almost inaudible rumbling noise. Pausing, she looked between them, before wondering what the noise was. The ticket counter almost giggled as she realized that it was the red head snoring. She moved closer, draping the blankets over the teens, deciding to let them rest-she would be ready to alert them to their flight soon enough.

Smiling, the adult couldn't help but think the two teens made a cute couple.

* * *

**A/N **I wasn't sure what to say with this one, until I remembered that this mission was the one that inspired me to write these stories. The exchange between Kim and the pilots caught my interest, and I really wondered what the story behind it really was. A high powered signally system out of stuff in a gift shop-maybe not the craziest story, but the one that made me wonder how it might be possible. And what better way to figure it out, than to write it out?


	7. Bernice

**A/N **Yes, I'm still writing, and no, I haven't forgotten about these stories, or my sequel to Stratagem. Just been busy with other writing, job hunting, and all around busy-ness. Thanks go out to Eddy13 who keeps poking to make sure I'm still working, and for beta checking this story.

From 'Naked Genius.'

* * *

_**Chapter 7: Bernice**_

_**Kim: Thanks for the ride, Bernice**_

_**Bernice: Well, you know, it's the least I could do after you saved my artist's colony from that dam break last year.**_

_**Kim: No big, it was just like patching up the cracks in my fish tank back home, only it took a lot more gum!**_

* * *

_Well, I was on the news again tonight, and this time, it was because of something that happened right here in Middleton! Most of the time it's just a short little side note about 'recent events in the news' or whatever, but this time I was interviewed by Trisha Labrowski and everything, and she said I was the feature story of the night._

_I hope I didn't look like an idiot in that interview. Ron said I was great, but he always says that. He also said this would be the start of our super-famousness-something-or-other. I was kinda too nervous to keep listening when I realized how many people would see the interview. Fortunately it got easier as she just asked me questions and stuff._

_I didn't think what I did was that exciting, but it sure got me noticed. After using all that gum to plug the dam, the gum company offered me an endorsement deal. Of course I couldn't take it, it wouldn't be right...but it was rather flattering. I guess in a way, I'm sorta making a name for myself..._

X X X X

"Kim, I'm not sure how much more of this I can take."

"Just keep chewing, Ron." Kim chewed her gum rapidly, trying to get it soft and sticky.

Both teens were up in Kim's room; they had been working on homework together, when Kim had accidentally knocked over a lamp she kept on a table in her room. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, except the lamp fell right into Kim's fish tank, cracking the side. The crack ran from the top to about the midpoint of the glass side, and water was leaking out in a thin stream. The water was currently pooling on the table. Kim placed her hand against the side, trying to slow the leak, as she looked at Ron.

"Faster!"

Ron glared back. "I'm chewing as fast as I can."

Kim rolled her eyes as she chewed her own gum as quickly as she could. "Ron, I've seen you finish a Naco in under fifteen seconds. You've spent twice that much chewing already."

"Yeah, chewing." The blond shook his head like she was clueless. "I don't spent all that time chewing when I'm eating a Naco."

"Eww." She shook her head at that, then motioned to Ron. He gave a last chew, then spat the gum out in his hand, before dropping it in hers. The red head cringed a bit. "Gorchy."

She stuck her hand inside the tank, pressing the sticky gum to the crack, noting the spray of water slowed a bit. As she used her hand to keep the pressure and hold it in place, she reached her hand backwards, palm open. "Okay Rufus, you're next."

When no gooey wad of gum was forthcoming, Kim frowned, then turned. She looked at the little naked mole rat, watching him chewing and smacking on the gum. "Rufuuuuus." She drew the name out, and he perked his head up, looking at her. The look darkened as he realized that she wanted his gum.

He shook his head at her. "Mine. Tasty."

She sighed, but knew there was no way she could force him to give up the gum. The red headed teen had given him the gum, and Ron had quickly explained that it was for chewing, not eating. The naked mole rat had indicated he understood. Looks like he understood too well; this had been the first gum that he'd been given, and Rufus wasn't going to give it up without a fight.

Kim shook her head, then spit her own gum out, quickly sticking it to the side of her fish tank. Fortunately, by this point, the water had slowed to a trickle, and the waterline had dropped below the section that she'd patched. With that last bit of gum, the tank was sealed.

She pulled her hand out, shaking off some of the water, then smirked, grabbing a hold of Ron's jersey, drying her hands. He huffed at that, standing and backing away, but by then it was too late; he had a couple of small, wet hand prints on his clothes. He glared at her, and considered reaching his own hands in the water to get them wet, then dry them on _her_ shirt. Her returning glare told him that wouldn't be a good idea.

Finally making up his mind, he turned back away from her, looking down at the book, and the studying they'd been doing. He picked up his textbook, mumbling something about learning history. He sat back down in one of Kim's chairs, eyes still on the page, as he tumbled out of the bean bag chair, laying on his side on the floor. A few second later he started snoring.

Kim just kind of stared at him in shock, before finally laughing, "All right, Ron, you've made your point, we can take a quick study break."

He snorted, and his friend shook her head, stepping forward to nudge him in the side with her foot. He gave a squawk, sitting up, insisting, "I'm studying!"

The red headed teen snatched the book from his hands, smiling, "Actually, I said we're done studying for a bit, Ron, how about we take a break?"

Her friend's eyes lit up at her words, "Booyah!" He started reaching for his backpack, to put all of his notes and books away, but Kim bopped at his hands lightly.

"Leave it, we'll come back and do some more studying later."

Giving a dejected frown, Ron snorted again. "What's the point? Not like I'm gonna learn enough to pass this test. There's just so many people. And names. And dates. And then there's the curve, I mean, everyone's going to do so much better than me, I'll be dead last."

Snickering, Kim shook her head, "But all those other people don't have your secret weapon."

Perkimg up, Ron looked over, "Secret weapon? Are you going to zap me with some sort of genius ray?"

Kim smiled, "Pfft, like those things even exist. No, I meant me!"

"You're gonna let me cheat off you?"

Sighing, the red head shook her head again, "No, of course not, but I'm gonna help you study." She snapped her fingers, "Oh, I know! We can take a break, and keep studying!"

Her friend looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "How can we do both?"

Grinning, she grabbed his hand and pulled him along. "Come on, I'll show you."

X X X X

A few minutes later, the two teen were on their bikes, riding their way around Middleton. As they pedaled their way up and down each of the streets, Kim would call over to her friend, asking him one question after another. After a few grumbled comments about this not being a break, he finally got into the spirit of things and was answering her questions back.

From the start, Ron missed most of the questions, not sure of hardly any of the information without his book in front of them. As Km quizzed him, though, explaining, coaching, and making him think, he started to get some questions right. First one every couple of questions, then he was making about half right, and soon he was surprising both teens by practically reciting Kim's answers verbatim.

Kim gave a small smirk to herself, deciding to push herself; she gave a half wave over to Ron, then motioned her hand towards the roadway out of town. She set off, and he gave a frown, but followed her, huffing to himself as he made his way up the hill.

While not truly 'out of town' the road ran upwards out of the center of Middleton, and soon enough they left most of the neighborhood and houses behind. This particular road took them up past Middleton Lake, on the far side of the park. The lake itself was man-made, held in place by a large dam at the top of this hill. As Kim biked up the road, she thought back to the history she'd learned.

A long time back, back before her parents have even been born, the entire area had been a large valley, almost a bowl shape with one end completely open. The area wasn't good for farming or mining, and was actually a fairly dangerous area, frequent rock slides and shifting ground making the area a hazard to everyone. A bold plan had been devised; rather than post signs and fences to try and keep people out, and enterprising mayor had put for the suggestion of damming the valley up, and filling it with water to make a man-made lake.

The idea had met with criticism at first, however after careful consideration, Police Commissioner Barkin had gruffly seconded the motion, and many of the other lawmakers had agreed. Construction on the dam had begun just a few short months later, with many contractors coming from all over the nation to work and build the dam.

After a few setbacks, and some issues with the land around the area, the dam had been finished, only two years after the construction plans had gone forth. The lake formed by the dam had quickly been christened 'Lake Middleton,' to no one's surprise. The mayor may have been a genius when it came to city construction, but he was not one to waste words. Lake Middleton had quickly become a central location for many residents to visit, and the formation of a park around the lake had just helped cement the importance of the area.

Kim looked up the hill in front of them, smiling. And over the years since, it had been just as important to her parents, and their parents, and to her, herself, of course. She looked over at Ron, remembering the number of times they had gone swimming up there.

As Kim turned her head, she frowned at her best friend as he slowed. Puffing, Ron hopped off his bicycle, gripping the handlebars with his hands as he shook his head at Kim. "Uh uh, KP, I'm done riding up this hill. Lets go back down and go home. Or maybe to Bueno Nacho." His stomach rumbled as he gave her a sheepish grin.

His friend shook her head, "Come on, we're almost to the top. Lets at least go up to the dam, I love the view from up there. We'll head back down from there, I promise."

Sighing, Ron nodded, still walking beside his bike. Kim sighed, then hopped off hers, as well, walking with him; the road really was getting pretty steep to ride a bike up-and besides, traffic seemed stopped along the road. With a frown, Kim led the way, Ron a few steps behind her.

They passed a handful of stopped vehicles, most of them with irritated drivers inside. Kim frowned as she looked at all the vehicles in the line, craning her head around to look upwards as far as she could see, but the cars seemed to stretch on forever; a large tanker truck nearly a hundred feet ahead also helped to block most of her view. She shrugged to herself, still walking upwards with her bike. There was no traffic coming from the other direction, either, so she wondered if maybe the road wasn't closed for some reason. She hoped their hadn't been an accident.

Ron huffed beside her again, wiping a hand across his forehead. "Come on, KP, lets just turn around, look, the road's all blocked or something, we'll never get up there anyway." He wiped his head again whining, "I'm tired."

The red head hesitated, missing a step. Maybe they should turn back, she could come up to the dam anytime she wanted-without Ron if need be. It wasn't like the dam was going to be gone tomorrow; it had stood at the top of these hills for decades, another day wouldn't matter. As she looked back upwards towards the line of cars, though, she seemed to receive a foreboding feeling. With another small shrug, she turned a playful grin to her friend. "Come on, you need the exercise."

Her best friend stuck his tongue out at her, but followed obediently. He gave a yelp, though, when he was hit in the shoulder by an opening door. The action wasn't enough to topple him off his feet, but it did surprise him, and Kim as well. As they turned around to look, Ron quickly shuffling out of the way, the door on the tanker truck they were passing opened all the way.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there." The man inside the tanker truck hopped down from his cab, looking at the two teen apologetically, "Really, I am sorry, that cab's so high I didn't even realize you two were going by."

Kim smiled, "It's no problem, it was just an accident." She looked at the man, then back up the road, "We were just going up to top of the dam to look around a bit, it's always such a good view."

The trucker smiled back, "Oh really? I'll had to take a look myself." He face darkened, "That is, of course, if I ever get up there. I've got a delivery to make."

Ron rubbed his shoulder, before looking at the truck, "Delivery? What are you delivering?"

With a smirk, the driver patted the side of the large tank. "Liquid chewing gum. It's got no flavor, of course, and we've got something in there churning the gum, keeping it from getting all hard and rigid like used gum."

Ron shook his head. "ABC gum? Seriously? That's just nasty."

Kim rolled her eyes. "It hasn't been chewed yet, Ron, they just keep it like this while they transport it. She blinked. "I wonder why they don't package it in the factory?"

The driver smiled. "Actually, we usually do. But the machine's down, so I suggested transporting it to another factory to get cut into strips. Seemed like a waste not to use all this gum. That's why I was driving it here." He looked back up the road. "I should have been done and back home now, I wonder what's taking them so long up there. I thought it might be an accident, but it if was, it's a doozy of an accident."

Kim nodded back, following his gaze, before smiling slowly, "Well, thanks for your time, sir, I wish you the best of luck in getting that gum to the factory." He nodded back at her, walking back along the side of his truck, checking some of the truck's equipment since he was stuck anyway.

The red head turned back around to see that Ron was already a half dozen steps ahead of her, working his way up the hill towards the dam. She gave a small snort, and hurried to catch up with him, shaking her head lightly. Soon enough, however, the two teens were at the top of the hill, able to look at the dam. It quickly became obvious why traffic had been stopped.

Water was gushing out the front of the dam, shooting out in a spray nearly fifteen feet in front of the concrete, pouring down like a new waterfall. The water itself was running down near the bottom of the dam, and had already started to collect, creating a large pool of water. Kim rushed to the edge of the railing, looking out in the distance, noting the valley that was in danger of being flooded. She spotted a number of houses in the area, a small town in danger of being washed away by the flood if the dam collapsed.

Ron was at her side, looking down at the water gushing out, "That's a lot of water, KP." Even as he said it, he shook his head, knowing that was a gross understatement. The lake itself was filled with millions upon millions of tons of water-let loose into the area, it would demolish anything and everything in its path, cutting a swath of destruction for miles. He shook his head again in realization at the force under their feet.

Kim opened her mouth to say something, but her eyes widened as she heard a large crack, the ground shaking underneath her. Ron gave a yelp, reaching over to steady himself, both teens holding onto each other as the dam shook, a larger crack appearing on the front of the dam, the force of the water making the concrete break and separate. The red head shivered as she ground finally stopped moving; she looked down, wondering how much longer it would be until the dam collapsed entirely.

Grabbing her best friend's arm, she turned, making her way over to the police cars and emergency vehicles on top of the dam. A number of scientists and police men were standing together, discussing what could be done. As Kim made her way towards them, one of the policemen moved to shoo her off, but Officer Hobble noticed her, quickly breaking out of the circle. "Kim! Good to see you, although I'm not really sure what you can do about this to help. Not even you can fix a dam like this." He stepped away from the group, towards Kim, to try and explain what was going on.

He grimaced slightly. "We had a runaway speed boat running out across the water of the lake, and somehow it managed to break its way through the buoys protecting the dam. It slammed into the top, did a little damage, but no one thought it was a big deal. An hour ago, though, a crack formed on the front of the dam, and water started pouring through. We've been trying to contain it since then, but no luck so far. You can't just fix a dam like this." He shrugged, at a loss.

Kim nodded, shaking her head back at him. "Is there anything we can do?"

The policeman grimaced. "We've been trying to get everyone turned around and off the dam, or down the hill, but it's been slow going. There were a few people injured when the dam first ruptured, and we've been trying to cordon off the area to keep anyone from coming up here in case the dam bursts." Another shaking of the dam punctuated his words, and the three of them staggered again. "If you could both go back down the hill and try and get people to turn around, it would be helpful. On foot, or with your bikes, it might be easier for you to help get people turned around and out of the way." He grimaced again, "Otherwise there's not much you can do unless you can figure out some way to plug the dam. It's gonna break, there's just no telling how long it will be until that happens." He hesitated, but after seeing Kim at a loss, he shrugged, motioned them to help if they could as he headed back to the group.

Kim looked around, frowning, and even Ron was making a face at the situation. For the dam to just break like this was practically unimaginable. The scale, too, was hard to comprehend, all the water, all the people that would be effected. Kim shook her head, looking over at Ron, giving an almost pleading question, "And ideas?"

Ron opened his mouth to answer, but felt a squirming in his pocket, watching as Rufus poked his head out. The mole rat started tugging on Ron's shirt to try and get his attention, but the teen shook his head, "Not now, Rufus, wait a minute, little buddy." He looked back up to Kim. "I don't know. I mean, isn't this something that you'd ask Wade about?"

Indignant, Rufus hopped out of Ron's pocket, dashing to the ground, as he reached over to tug on Kim's pant leg next, looking for attention. She didn't look down, instead choosing to answer Ron's question, giving a grimace. "The Kimmunicator's on the charger. I didn't think we'd need it."

Ron was incredulous, "You forgot the Kimmunicator? Isn't that, like, impossible?" He snorted, ignoring Rufus as well, as the little mole rat started hopping around on the ground, seeking their attention.

Kim glared back, letting him know she wasn't amused. "And what about you? Where's your phone? We could call Wade on that." Rufus was running around in short little circles now, but the rapid movement wasn't enough to make them look down.

"This phone?" Ron pulled an antenna out of his pocket, with a number of wires attached to the end, the four, seven and eight keypad digits dangling from the wires. "Remind me never to leave my stuff where your brothers can find it."

Finally Rufus jumped against Ron's leg hard, and he looked down at his little friend, "Alright, Rufus, I get it, what's the problem?"

The naked mole rat looked up at the two teens, smiling slightly now that he had their attention. He put a little frown on his face, then looked down. "Bleh!" He spat his soggy mess of chewed gum out onto the concrete, the turned his face back up to them. "No good."

Both teens looked at the gum, then shared a look.

X X X X

Kim and Ron quickly ran back down the road together, trying to spot the tanker truck from earlier. The two teens gulped as they realized that the truck had actually managed to work his way back and forth, and had finally gotten out of his spot in line, as was starting to work his way backwards, slowly backing his way down the road. A police man nearby was helping him to try and get him to a side road to turn around completely.

The two teens were running wildly now, waving their arms around, trying to catch the policeman's attention, as well as the driver of the truck. Finally, they caught the policeman's attention. He raised his hands up, causing the truck driver to stop, as he turned and looked at the two teens. "What seems to be the problem, kids?"

Ron rushed up gasping, and even Kim was bent forward, hands on her knees, as she panted, trying to breathe. She took another large, deep breath, before looking at the policeman. "I-Idea, I think I know how we can save the dam."

"Really?" The man smiled, humoring the two teens, "What, you planning on supergluing it back together or something?"

Kim narrowed her eyes at his mocking tone, "Kinda. Chewing gum, should plug up the dam, it worked with my fish tank, I don't see why it wouldn't work here."

The policeman looked at the two of them, waiting for a punchline. When he realized they were serious, he snorted, "Yeah, right." As he thought about it some more, he frowned. "Wait a minute, that might be crazy enough to work. I remember my sister doing the same thing when we were kids." He stepped back, motioning to the truck. "If you can convince him to go, I'd say it's worth a shot."

Panting out a thanks, Kim dashed forward over to the truck, hopping up by the cab's door and tapping on the window. The truck driver rolled it down, "Well, if it isn't you again. Figure out what was going on up there?"

His smile disappeared as Kim explained to him what was going on up at the top of the dam. As the teen started to explain her idea, though, his grin came back, "You're pulling my leg, right? You can't think that'll actually work."

Kim met his gaze firmly, "It will work. Because it has to. Please, can we use the gum to stop up the dam?"

The man shrugged, "Hey, it's fine by me, they were going to toss this stuff out anyway, I volunteered to drive it over cause I didn't want to see it go to waste. They probably won't use it anyway, but I wanted to give it a try-but plugging your dam would be a pretty good use for it." He opened the passenger door, letting Kim come around and get in, Ron joining her, as he threw the truck in gear and started his way up to the top of the hill. "Besides, if this works, think of the publicity!" He laughed.

It only took them a couple of minutes to get up the hill, the tanker truck chugging it's way up there. As they reached the top, a number of policemen came over to try and stop them, turn them around, but when Kim leaned out the door to wave at Officer Hobble, they backed away. The policeman came over, looking down the length of the truck, before giving a slow smile, "What have you got planned, Kim?"

She hopped back down out of the truck, explaining quickly, as she motioned for the tanker to turn around and back up towards the top of the dam, near the water inside. Kim went over to the edge, looking down, seeing the water being pulled downwards, towards the crack in the dam. She hoped that the gum would be pulled in as well, and quickly plug the hole. She turned back around, noting the truck was in place, and the driver was struggling to get out a pump from under the truck.

Kim rushed over, Ron only seconds behind her as they helped tug the pump and tubing around, hooking it up to the truck, then shoved one end into the water, hooking the other up to the truck. Hobble watched as they get it in place, turning to some of the other policemen nearby. "Cross your fingers, gentlemen." He nodded to the teens and truck driver.

The truck driver reached his hand up, pulling down the lever, letting the gum start pouring into the water. It started slow, in a soggy, sticky mess, but as it got up to speed, it started flowing rapidly into the water. Kim had hopped up to the top of the truck, and was watching the gum from inside, noting the amount dropping rapidly. She peered over the edge of the truck, watching the water still churning in the lake; Ron had run over to the other side of the dam, peering down as well to determine if it was doing any good.

At first, nothing was happening. The water continued to gush down, through the crack she was sure lied far under the water. She grimaced to herself, wondering if maybe there wasn't enough gum, or maybe it wasn't sticky enough. She knew there could be dozens of things that prevented her plan from working like she expected. She had all but given up hope, when Ron called over to her excitedly, "KP! KP, come here!"

She vaulted off the top of the tanker, spinning and landing hard on the concrete, but not letting the impact jar her. She rushed over to her friend, looking over the side as well. She blinked, and blinked again as she watched. The water coming out of the dam had slowed. Or at least, she assumed it had.

Expanding outwards from the front of the dam was the largest bubble gum bubble she's ever seen. It was slowly inflating, the huge pink sphere already larger than she was tall and still growing. She smiled as she realized that the flood of water had already slowed considerably, otherwise the bubblegum would have burst from the gallons of water flowing into it.

Kim turned and ran her way back to the other side of the dam, looking down into the water. Her smile broadened as she saw that the churning water was calming slowly, the top of the water coming to rest a little lower than it had before the dam had cracked. As Hobble came over beside her to look down into the water, he couldn't help but chuckle. "I stand corrected, Ms Possible. I guess you can do anything, even patch a dam with bubblegum."

The teen grinned back, "I'm just glad that tanker full of gum was around when we needed it!"

X X X X

Fortunately, after plugging the dam with the gum, the experts and scientists had determined that it was relatively safe. The dam itself was still weak in the center, and emergency repairs would need to be done as soon as possible, but the concrete was no longer under risk of collapsing under the pressure of the water; and by the same token, the small towns and houses situated under the dam were no longer in dangers way.

Kim walked away from the adults still discussion the incident, moving near the railing on the far side of the dam. She smiled as she looked over the valley, noting that the water had finally stopped completely. She raised her hands up, trying to block out the sun as she looked up a bit, seeing an airplane flying over head. Almost as if realizing it had been spotted, the plane gave a little waggle, as if to thank Kim for a job well done. The teen gave a small wave, self consciously, and turned around to look at Ron. "Guess we'd better get home and finish studying."

Her friend groaned.

X X X X

Bonnie looked down at her paper, frowning. They had just finished taking the history test, and she couldn't understand her score. She hadn't studied as hard as she should, but she knew that it wouldn't matter because there had been a curve-or so she thought.

"I got a 'C'? What about the curve?"

The teacher gave a shrug at the teen. "There's only a curve based on the scores..." He waved a hand at Ron, and Bonnie watched the teen keep dancing, holding his paper high, the 100% circled in red, "And since he got the highest score..." Giving another shrug, the teacher made his way back to his desk.


End file.
